Qin News

Here you will find news about the First Emperor
whenever I find something interesting!

Please let me know if you come across anything else!!!

Barn found underground at Emperor's mausoleum

Author: China News Daily, date: February 28, 1997

XI'AN (Xinhua) -- An underground barn with the remains of animals has been found in the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang near Xi'an, the capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

The mausoleum, which is famous for its terra cotta warriors and horses serving as the nether world guards of Qin Shi Huang, the founder of the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC), was added to the World Heritage List in 1987.

The barn contained pigs, goats, dogs, chickens, fish, soft-shelled turtles and crane-like birds.

It is one of the most important finds in the mausoleum in recent years. It was discovered 1 metre underground, 750 metres to the northeast of the outer wall of the mausoleum, leading archaeologists to re-think the mausoleum's layout. It is 23.5 metres by 10 metres with a 6-metre long sloping passageway leading to it. Eight rooms were built at each side of another passageway in the middle of the barn.

The walls of the rooms were made of beaten earth. Finely made decorated planks were found on all sides of the rooms.

Experts say the barn is the first from the Qin Dynasty or earlier to be found, and is the most exquisite underground building at the mausoleum.

Although it was intended as a storage house for animals to be used as sacrificial objects, it was burned during a peasant rebellion at the end of the Qin Dynasty.

Among the remains of bones, scholars found evidence of more than 10 different animals. Iron weapons, bronze arrowheads, coins and fragments of painted pottery figures were also found.

They say the painted pottery figures look similar to the famous terra cotta warriors.

Date: August 8, 1997

A new batch of terra cotta warriors discovered

Archaeologists at the mausoleum after China's First Emperor have uncovered a new elite force made of terra cotta. The difference this time is that these terra cotta warriors uses chariots and are armed with bows and arrows.

The excavation consists of 86 warriors and 44 horses.

(Source: A Swedish newspaper called "Metro")

[China News Digest, date: October 9, 1998]

The epic film "The First Emperor," directed by CHEN Kaige, has been previewed by some 3,000 guests and journalists last week in China's Great Hall of the People, a venue usually reserved for major political events, AFP reported.

The film is an epic of love and hate set in the time of China's first Emperor, QIN Shihuang (259-210 B.C.), which painstakingly reconstructs scenes from the life of QIN Shihuang before he became the first emperor. It took more than three years to complete the film, with an undisclosed, but estimated production cost of 300 million dollars.

Some observers took note of the potential political meaning of the film. And, apparently, so did the film's producers: "Chairman Mao greatly admired the First Emperor's creation of a strong authoritarian state," said the producers.

"The First Emperor" will be released in Japan before arriving in China towards the end of the year. (Ray ZHANG, YIN De An)

More info about the movie here!

I just found out that the premier of Assassin will be delayed to later this year, in December -99, why I do not know. They also changed the English title from Assassin to The Emperor and the Assassin. Look further down this page for new news regarding the movie!

[February 17, 1999] [Beijing Review Vol.41 No.49]

Stone Armor Found in Qinshihuang Mausoleum

China has discovered lots of rare stone armor in a huge attendant tomb southeast of the Qingshihuang Mausoleum.

The tumulus of Qinshihuang (the first Chinese emperor who reined from 246-210 BC) was built 2,200 years ago at the foot of Lishan Hill, 30 km east of Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi Province. Since the mid-1970s, the excavation of the terra cotta warriors and horses--the "most splendid archeological find of this century", and the painted bronze horse-drawn carriage--the "crown of ancient bronzes", has caused quite a stir around the world. At the end of 1987, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) placed it on the World Heritage List.

During last year's excavation by the Institute of Archeology of Shaanxi Province, some ruins indicating human activity attracted the attention of experts, who thus started excavation work around the mausoleum. It wasn't until the beginning of this year that they confirmed it as an attendant tomb with an east-west length of 120 meters and north-south width of 110 meters. Its area and architecture are almost similar to the No.1 Pit of the terra cotta warriors and horses. Archeologists began the trial excavation in the west of the tomb this summer, and came across some stone armor. Because they were stacked together, the exact number remains unclear. Every piece of armor was chipped and polished from stone into different shapes (such as circles, rectangles and trapezoids) to fit various parts of the body. There is a hole at each end of a plate and all the plates were pieced together with thin, flat copper wires. The finer suits of armor were worn by generals and the coarser ones by soldiers. Some of the gray plates had turned white due to exposure to fire. Experts say the armor might have been extremely hard to make, so the tools used must have been quite advanced.

Documentation relating to any huge attendant tombs containing stone armor has never been found in any records. Even after many years of research, archeologists have not found a single clue. This pleasant surprise still remains an enigma to them, because armor is usually made of leather or metal. It is of important value to academic research and exhibitions. Archeological departments have suggested to the State Bureau of Cultural Relics that a comprehensive excavation of the tomb be carried out.

[January 2, 2000] [News I have discovered on the Internet] Qin movie: The Emperor and the Assassin.

I just discovered that the movie is running here in Sweden right now. I have not yet seen it but I am planning to do that soon. The movie has been running for some weeks now in other parts of the world.

I have some links regarding the movie that might be interesting:

The Emperor and the Assassin
Jing ke ci qin wang (1999) The Emperor and the Assassin info on the US Internet Movie Database
Film.com Reviews of The Emperor and the Assasin.

[20 januari, 2000] [Jing ke ci qin wang = The Emperor and the Assassin]

I saw the movie today, it was well worth seeing although it was not as good as I had hoped for. There were too little historical content for me to enjoy it although there were some features from the stories about the First Emperor. The photography was excellent and the outdoor scenes were great.

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Last update: January 21, 2000